This Is The End: Kansas overwhelmed by Oklahoma, ending KU’s quest for another Big 12 title

Oklahoma forward Brady Manek (35) reacts between Kansas forward Mitch Lightfoot (44) and guard Marcus Garrett (0) after a dunk in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, March 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

Advertisement

Norman, Okla. — The Kansas Jayhawks left nothing to chance on Tuesday night.

Instead of a spirited effort that would take the conference race down to the final day and at least give the Jayhawks a glimmer of hope of extending their NCAA-record streak of 14 consecutive conference titles to 15, the 13th-ranked Jayhawks showed up dead flat at Lloyd Noble Center and watched Oklahoma run away from them from start to finish during a 81-68 OU victory that put the Jayhawks two games behind Kansas State and Texas Tech with one game to play.

The streak is dead. The Jayhawks look deflated. And, with just one game remaining in the regular season, they’re quickly running out of time to salvage what has been a season full of struggle.

Asked about the mood in the locker room following the game that officially put an end to KU’s streak, complete with OU fans chanting, “Streak is over” as the final minutes ticked away, Self said things were quiet.

“They’re down,” Self said. “It’s natural for them to be down right now. … We obviously got it handed to us right from the get-go.”

As for the significance of Tuesday night being a date that will be remembered forever in Big 12 lore, the KU players weren’t in much of a mood to talk about that.

“I don’t even think about it,” said junior forward Dedric Lawson, who tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.

Added freshman David McCormack, who matched Lawson with a career-high 18 points on Tuesday night: “Same for me. Back of my mind, not really thinking about it.”

Photo Gallery

Kansas basketball at Oklahoma

Kansas at Oklahoma

In many ways, Tuesday’s outing — KU’s eighth loss in 11 tries in true road games this season — was as bad as it has been all season.

And maybe that’s fitting. If something as incredible as a 14-year conference title streak is going to end, isn’t it appropriate that it go down in flames? After all, KU put together that streak largely by avoiding efforts like the one they put forth on Tuesday night in Norman.

Kansas never led. At 24 points in the second half, Tuesday’s loss featured KU’s second worst deficit of the season (-33 at Texas Tech was the worst) and also the second biggest halftime deficit (13 vs. 25 at Tech) of the season.

And that’s to say nothing of KU’s shooting numbers, which landed at 41 percent from the floor, 23 percent from 3-point range and 64 percent from the free throw line.

“It felt like all the other (road) games,” Lawson said. “Where we can’t get stops and the basket seems small for us and looks big for the other team.”

Much like KU’s place in the Big 12 standings, however, which both K-State and Tech deserve plenty of praise for, Tuesday’s loss was as much a reflection of what OU did well as what Kansas did poorly.

Playing on Senior Night, with hope of snagging a signature win for their own postseason resume, the Sooners, in front of a half-empty but energetic home crowd, found a way to heat things up early, knocking in seven of their first eight shots, including four of their first five 3-point attempts to build an early 18-7 lead.

The Sooners (19-11 overall, 7-10 Big 12) eventually cooled off to the tune of 9-of-14 overall and 5-of-7 from 3-point range, but that didn’t last. By the break, the Sooners had hit 54 percent from the floor and 7 of 13 from 3-point range.

Even the Sooner fans were raining 3-pointers in this one. One lucky OU student drained a half-court shot for $7,000 during the break.

“It was kind of like the Texas Tech game,” freshman guard Ochai Agbaji said. “They started off pretty quick, got quick buckets and we were fighting to get back throughout the whole entire game.”

As has been typical for the Jayhawks on the road this season, nothing at all came easy in this one.

Even after the Jayhawks (22-8, 11-6) put together a 9-0 first-half run to climb back into the game — with quality offensive possessions and a couple of defensive stops — Oklahoma stole all of the momentum back with a single, end-to-end sequence.

The first part came when Quentin Grimes (3 points and 3 turnovers on 1-of-6 shooting in 26 minutes) threw the ball away at the top of the key with the Jayhawks looking to trim the OU lead to single digits for the first time since the Sooners led 15-7.

With Jamal Bieniemy racing toward the other end, all of the Kansas defenders who were back followed him across the floor, leaving Brady Manek (15 points in the first 13 minutes, 21 for the game) all alone to flush a two-handed, highlight jam that ended with Marcus Garrett in a poster and Bill Self calling his third timeout of the first half. OU led 30-18 with 7:22 to play in the half and used a 10-0 run in response to KU’s 9-point spurt to take a 41-28 halftime lead.

Kansas actually had a shot to trim OU’s lead to 10 or 11 just before the break, but Devon Dotson’s drive to the rim ended with him in the air and in trouble and led to KU’s ninth turnover of the half.

Document

The second half was a mere formality, with OU putting on a feel-good show for its seniors and fans and Kansas trying to both keep the score respectable and scrap together some sort of momentum that might lead the Jayhawks, and others like, oh, say, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, to see something in this team worth getting excited about for the postseason.

Whether that comes or not remains to be seen. But it’s all that matters now.

“It was definitely hard," Agbaji said of falling in the fashion the Jayhawks did on Tuesday night. "We fought, but they played really good. We didn’t really come out to play tonight, honestly. It’s kind of devastating, but we’re trying to keep our heads up.”

Saturday’s finale at Allen Fieldhouse against Baylor has little meaning beyond KU looking to stay perfect at home this season and trying to keep the 3 seed in next week’s Big 12 tournament.

With Lagerald Vick still on a leave of absence, the Jayhawks don’t even have any seniors to honor on Senior Day.

So it’s all about the postseason now.

No more scoreboard watching. No more race. No more worrying about being the team that ends the streak. Bad breaks or not, this is it.

And the only thing left to do now is find a way to save face in the weeks ahead and look forward to perhaps starting another streak next season.

“It’s pretty cool that we hung in there for a pretty substantial amount of time,” Self said, reflecting on the end of the streak. “It’s great. But I don’t like the fact that this team will feel they’re the ones that let it down. There’ll be a lot of players from the last 14 years that will look at this team as the one that broke what they started and I don’t think that’s fair.”

Why Self quit in the game last night by pulling Lawson with about 9 minutes left and he never returned! Talk about quitting at least we could have played our best player until a few minutes left and tried to make an appearance you are trying to win. Why would you let your team continue to shoot nothing but three point shoots the entire second half when none of them can shoot three point shots especially
letting Marcus Garrett "Mr Brick" shoot 5 three point shots. It's hard Marcus to hit a three point basket shooting from your chest. He is the worst offensive player I have ever seen in a Jayhawk uniform and his defense was not much better last night but good Ole Bill let him play 26 minutes!!!

Brian - You might be completely correct about my lack of sense of humor, but I'd suggest that your's might be a bit eskewed as well. Case in point is the fact that you view as humor the irony of quitting on the basketball team instead of the culture that has become quitting on the football team.

And if you truly believe that no one is quitting on the team, then it would appear that you also lack reading comprehension. "Bench him". "Fire him." "Put a fork in it." And on and on.

Kinda kidding, but definitely a possibility from the efforts we have seen away from Allen Fieldhouse this year. About a month ago I thought 12-6 sounded about right, but didn't expect the losses to look like this.

Time to vent:
1. Overall I really like Dotson and think he's had a really good year, but he appears to have hit a wall.
2. I think Dedric Lawson is overrated. He gets his numbers, but it feels like every road game he only starts to accumulate his numbers in the second half when the game has all been decided. At home he's great, but they don't let you play at home in the NCAA tournament.
3. Grimes has to be the biggest disappointment relative to expectations. Hope he eventually comes around, but my goodness. Why on earth would you pick up your dribble one step past half court and look to pass when there's no one in front if you?
4. Agbaji appears to have come back down to earth. Haven't seen him make a really explosive play in a while and all his shots look short lately
5. Overall I like McCormack and think he's got a lot of potential and you can see improvements lately. Just not quite there yet
6. Garrett is a complete non threat from the outside and teams know it
7. Lightfoot is a good role player, but when this team needs him to be more than that too often they are in trouble
8. Charlie Moore....not good

Bottom line is Grimes productivity for the amount of time he is on the court is pathetic. Grimes needs to be benched and it's very disappointing that Bill Self can't get it through his head or can't see it. By all the weighted measureables Garrett, KJ, and Lightfoot are ahead of him and Grimes ranks as the 8th on the roster. And by the numbers at the very least Garrett should start in place of Grimes. But, rarely has KU played three large. And IMO, based on productivity per minute, the starting lineup should be McCormack, Dedric, KJ, Agbaji, and Dotson and KU should play large. KU gets out rebounded, too many turnovers, can't guard the three and can't shoot the three and so most of the issues start with our guards.

Garrett should no where be close to starting on anyone's team let alone ours. The guy shoots from his chest for his patented 3 point bricks and last night Mr' Defense let his man run right by him on multiple plays. Please sit Marcus for most of the game. With him in there our other four players have to work that much harder because everyone knows he is no threat! But Mr Hall of Fame Coach keeps playing him and when we do we lose. But we did win 5 of 6 games when he was on the bench watching the entire game!

Kansas went to the Final Four with him playing significant minutes. They were ranked #1 preseason with the expectation of him playing 25-30 minutes. They were 11-1 in non conf with him playing 30+. How could that be? Is it because actual coaches know he's very good? Yes.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that other teams make adjustments. If they know Lawson is going to go for 20-10, why would they not collapse/double team him? The best news about Grimes is that he isn't actually as bad as you represent and he might even be back next year, better than ever.

The streak will technically have ended last year when the NCAA comes down on KU for playing De Sousa. Hopefully at that point Self is fired and Kansas can start over with a coach who knows what the hell he is doing, like Jay Wright. This is the worst collection of weak minded players I have ever seen. They have no pride and really no confidence at all and Self deserves a lot of blame for that.

Unless there is hard evidence that KU cheated and that Self knew about the cheating and was in on it, there's no need to fire him. He's one season removed from a Final Four appearance, for crying out loud!

Self quit on the team last night big time. He looked dazed most of the night trying to figure out what to do. So his answer was to take his best player Lawson out of the game with around 9 minutes left never to return while letting a team that can not shoot threes put up 31 of them for a 22% completion rate! On top of that he let "Mr 3 point Brick" Marcus Garrett put 5 of them up with his usual success rate of 0%. Maybe his mind was somewhere else like trying to figure out what to say for himself to the NCAA and FBI! We all know what he did (and yes he is not alone) we just do not want to admit it. The program has had a long history of doing things the right way and his taped conversations no matter the hard facts or not are just not the KANSAS WAY! Those conversations are what is removed from the final four! Oh and where are all our recruits for next year?
OH Yea nonexistent! All too scared of what is going to happen to the program. For them there is no hard facts needed. Your correct he has been great for a long time for both the school and program but the end maybe just around the corner.

Didn't notice that the Jayhawks cut the lead from 24 to 13 while Lawson was out?

Who's dazed?

Kansas has no scholarships for next year at this point. Lawson, Lawson, Dok, Mac, Mitch, Silvio, Grimes, Garrett, Agbaji, Moore and Dotson can all return plus Braun and McBride. That's 13.
Hurt is expected to sign by most "experts".

Yea Jay whose dazed? That line up got us two blow outs and a loss to West Virginia Mr know it all. We do have a scholarship in Vick and Hurt is now in a wait and see towards KU and D Lawson and Dok are still questionable on whether they will return. At this point Silvio in not cleared to play next year and please do not count on Garrett and Grimes as major parts of championship team Jay. I suggest Jay you take a seat before you fall from YOUR Daze.

Come on man. KU wins the Big XII with Doke. KU is a full-year top 5 with De Souza. Vick may have been more productive with both of those guys on the court, maybe even stays on the team and doesn't go...who knows. It's OK. Four freshmen, inexperience shows. It's painful to watch because you have never seen this on a regular basis from KU teams. Let's support these guys in a tough year...

True. But Self chose to stick with Grimes while KJ, Lightfoot, and Garrett have languished for minutes. With Grimes getting just 3 friggn points in 26 minutes of play you have go to be friggn kidding me.

Even for you that's unusually stupid. Garret played 30+ every night until his injury. He's played more minutes per game than Grimes...
C'mon, you can't really be this stupid. You're just acting like an idiot to seem funny. Admit it.

Jay Wright will never leave Villanova. Why should he? He has been taking recruits away from Kansas the last couple of years and has two national championships within a five year span. He has a better track record than self, and Nova will do whatever they can to keep him

All streaks must come to an end [accept maybe Duke fans being ass####s for the past 60 years and counting].

It took a lot to end it. Two big men gone, the lone senior gone, best defensive player injured, a top rated recruit performance AWOL most of the season, three point excellence gone, defending the three pointer gone, free throwing shooting efficiency gone, the NCAA hanging over the team for most of the season, turnovers, unfortunately, not gone and, not to be outdone, Kansas's schedule was rated the most difficult in division one!!!

Despite all this, they hung in there to the second last game of the conference race, will make the NCAA and will most likely will win at least 25 games,

Matt - Is there any chance that ISU finishes with a better seed for the Big12 tournament if they win out and we don't? The difference between a 3 seed and a 5 seed seems significant, and plenty to play for. It really shouldn't be championship or bust should it, or have we just gotten that entitled? We who have invested so little.

Dream on.. keep on dreaming if you think with the current roster we can still rule B12. Just accept this young team, embrace them, support their development, give them time to grow. Please adjust your expectation. I believe this team can take down a couple or more opponents if they focus and play their hearts out. Rock Chalk!!!!

I find it really hard to be angry at this team given how everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for this squad.

But I’m irked by the “Didn’t even think of it”. Comments by Dedric and David and whoever else. You know, in a year where we needed a leader more than ever, Dedric is that guy you’d hope would be the leader. For him to even suggest that he didn’t care about the streak ending tonight is salt in the gash of a wound that has been this season.

Bill always seems to get the best out of his guys and gets them to play hard. But for the life of him he couldn’t get them to be competitive some games, and to see a comment like that reinforces my thought that a lot of these guys don’t care enough.

I’m probably being a little much in that assumption, but it would be nice to see some fire in these guys other than Dotson who has consistently seemed to be the one who truly cares. Dedric, how about be pissed off your team is the one that ended the streak and give yourself and the guys something to feed off of heading in to March Madness?

There is only one thing that will keep this team from getting bounced the first weekend. And that’s the phrase little brother down in Wichita uses a few years ago. “Play angry”. Play angry, play hard, play pissed off, or jog on.

I agree. I think all these freshmen just never really understood the streak. Hence, most never really thought about. They didn't know what they were playing for. Moreover, it's difficult making that transition to college. You move away from home and start playing on this big stage on TV. The competition gets better and the expectations can be overwhelming. This team had no real leadership, and you could see the freshmen begging for it.

Actually, Vick was the leader, and not a very consistent one at that, then he disappeared. We would have had a better shot of keeping the steak alive with him but now that the streak is over, our postseason ceiling might be higher without him, forcing the other guys to keep being aggressive instead of deferring to the senior when the going gets tough. They definitely have improved throughout the second half of the season given more PT even if they havent yet learned to win on the road.

Coach Self said in the postgame radio interview, among other things, that he thought the guys were "just tired", and if that's the case, they're going to have a rude awakening in the Big XII tourney! Playing until they lose, means a 3-day stretch of daily games. Rest up young fellas! Save yourselves for those infamous 2-day tournaments they call March Madness!

And I hope the Mecca is full to the rafters Saturday, with deafening applause for what this injured team has accomplished this season. After all, most years, KSUCK and Texas Tech would kill to have the "lousy" season we've had!

Vick doesn't deserve to be honored. He bailed on the team for "personal reasons" who knows what. Maybe Self just had enough of his attitude and sent him packing. He use to hang around with Brennen Green, another problem child who ended up leaving the program.

Disappointing, yes, but I think that if this team had any name on the front of their jersey other than Kansas, most folks would be talking about how they overcame adversity and how high their ceiling might be next year, and so forth. I'll emphasize the positive here, and give credit to the players and coaches for the effort, wish them luck the rest of the way - and hope for a new streak to begin next season!

“We’re not thinking about the streak” said Lawson and McCormack. Yeah sure you’re not since you’ll be the team that ended the run and will be labeled as such. Anyone who buys that needs their head examined. That’s all they’re thinking about. We ended the run and it’s on us. We sucked on the road and proved we can’t win away from the field house. Call it what you like but you can stick a fork in this team because they won’t do anything in the tournament. They cannot win on the road, period.

whew, that was a tough one to watch. Much like the Tech game. But starting four freshman in the b-12, one of the toughest conferences out there, its pretty hard to expect they could win the championship. K-State and Tech both have fairly seasoned teams. These kids will shine in another year or two and we will be back starting a new streak. Beat Baylor!

The streak had to end sometime. This season was the perfect storm. Considering what they accomplished, I think there is a lot of upside going forward. They have had success on neutral courts, so maybe they'll have some success during the tournament. Trying to stay positive.

Hawk, I too reside in BVille ............. And unfortunately I agree with your assessments.

3 giant hurdles in the way of this year's team ..... 1) Winning on the road, 2) making the 3 pt. shot, and 3) Defending the 3 pt. shot.

Watching Coach Self last night , he did not have the look of a coach with answers for this years team ! At this point I do not see any remaining rabbits to be pulled from the magical hat ..............

A couple friends invited me to join them for curling lessons in Cedar Rapids, so I missed this game. And boy, I owe those buddies of mine big-time, because they spared me the agony of watching this stinker.

It's one thing for Kansas to get blown out by a strong and underrated Texas Tech team. It's something else entirely, though, to get routed by a middling Oklahoma team that was sub-.500 in conference play. Down by as many as 24 to these guys? Are you kidding me? That is just straight-up intolerable and unforgivable.

Barring a miraculous run to the Final Four, the epitaph for this team will be "Most Underachieving Team of the Self Era". From a preseason No. 1 ranking and the clear favorite to win the Big 12 and a trendy favorite to get back to the Final Four to a team that won't win its conference and probably won't do anything of much significance in the postseason...what a forgettable season this has turned out to be!

Actually, they are the most underachieving team of KU's entire history. And the most disappointing ever. And this game may have been the worst ever -- absolutely everything went wrong and no player could do right the whole game.
A lot of the problems this year were caused by the NCAA, and their lack of any effort to resolve the DeSousa situation.Then you have to add in the problems associated with Azubuike's injury, Grimes lack of production, a lot of freshman inexperience -- all adding up to disaster. Not much of that can be laid on Self tho.

1] Everyone on the court last night should be back save for Dedric and the potential for growth across the board is tremendous.

2] Mitch will be a senior and, with his fire and spirit, can fill this season's void of senior leadership.

3] The onus of "The Streak" has been lifted and the Hawks can get back to concentrating on winning titles and Championships.

4] Big Mac gave us a glance of what he can do...and it looks really good.

5] There's a virtual guarantee of a starting position and major playing time for Matt Hurt with the anticipated departure of Dedric Lawson.

6] The blow outs suffered this year will not be forgotten and retaliation will be an order of business.

Obviously, the elephant in the room is what's going to happen with the NCAA but just from a basketball standpoint, there is much to look forward to for next season. And, just a prediction but KU beats Baylor, wins two games in KC and, somehow, gets to the Sweet Sixteen, to finish 26 - 10.

HEY,,,I've always been a glass half full kind of guy, the only thing falling from the sky are snowflakes and I will be forever grateful that my Dad, who is now in heaven, vowed that none of his five sons would ever have to spend one minute as a University of Misery student.

We can regroup and win the tournaments...I BELIEVE IN THIS TEAM...I believe that we can get better this year...we have some scores to settle in the Big 12 Tournament...we win that and we will have the momentum leading into the Dance...and anything can happen...winning the Big 12 Tournament is huge...we can do it!...I still believe we have the best team in the league.

It's amazing to me that when many people thought, 'this could be the year the Jayhawks don't win the Big 12,' that it took losing Dok early, losing SDS for the whole season when he likely would have started, losing Lagerald for most of the season (even when he was playing), losing Garrett for a couple of key weeks, pulling Agbaji's red shirt so we could add bodies and STARTING FOUR FRESHMEN for the last three weeks of the season, in order to actually be eliminated in the final week! Sure, there were a few bad losses in there, but I think most other teams would've cashed it in long ago.

Coach Self's "worst team" would've won a lot of other league's championship. KU basketball will be back-to-back again. Rock Chalk!

Fact is, that loss to West Virginia was the decider. We blew it. And frankly, it's not the end of
the streak that bothers me, as much as how it ended. One thing about Bill's teams they were always tough, and physical. This bunch is simply too psychologically weak. And now they should not have the "freshman' defense any longer. A lot of very good players do not a team make. We have a right to expect the players to play hard and tough. They are not going to win every game, but they can always bring it.

Unfortunately, which game did this team come from behind to win? You'll have a tough time coming up with one, because it did not happen. This team coming from behind to beat West Virginia after trailing? No way. I think Coach Bill has been thinking a little bit too much about the stars attached to someones ranking, and not enough about the fires in their competititve hearts.

Dedric and David's comment makes me mad and sad. To think that they dont care or don't think about something that is bigger than them. SMH

I'm tired of everyone using the excuse that we are starting 4 freshmen. There has been many other teams in the past who have had Four Freshmen as starters and have done very well. For whatever reason, our freshman just can't get it together.

Grimes plays like he's going to transfer. We've seen this in players before. They dont play to the expectations and then transfer.

I'd like to see these guys get mad. Get pissed for crying out loud! If I played as bad as they have in some games, I'd be pissed!! Why cant they play with the same tenacity away from home as they do at home! That's just stupid.

I dont see this team making it past the second round of the NCAA tournament since they have proven they cant win away from AFH. I dont see them all of a sudden "caring."

Take it easy on me! I dont post much but had to get this off my chest because I am just pissed with this group. They are not fun to watch. No passion. No fire. No anger. Get f'n pissed off and play like you want to win!!! RCJH

I see nothing wrong with their comments-I think they just meant they are moving on.....Nothing to be done about the past. And please......stop making assumptions. You know absolutely nothing about what is in their minds or how they feel. Nothing. Lastly.....Get over it. KU is long overdue for a mediocre year. Really it's better than mediocre after having to change around their entire game plan.And besides.......how many great teams has KU had that have won the Big 12 and then been a disaster in the big tournament?? Too many to count......so who knows what could happen.

Everyone is so busy helping out and collapsing they fail to defend their own man. Defend the damn three, make them drive and score inside. Put Mac, Dedric, Lightfoot, and KJ in position to get physical and get some blocks. Better to give them a hard two than an easy three.

I can't believe how short sighted these comments are. We are one of the top 3-5 teams in the country and have been for all of HCBS's years here. Yet after losing one of the two most key players on our roster, we fail to meet expectations. Now everyone invites themselves to criticize a Hall of Fame coach we are lucky to have.

Kansas has been wildly inconsistent this season. The Jayhawks' play was never really good enough to deserve being the conference champion. So although it's a bit sad that the streak has come to an end, I'm not at all surprised. Kansas State and Texas Tech are far more deserving than the Jayhawks are. And life will go on. Maybe the 'Hawks can start a new streak next season.

But for now, Bill Self better focus on getting this team to play with a lot more effort, especially on defense and blocking out on the boards if he doesn't want the team to lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

It's possible. But as I said above how many times have great KU teams gone into the tournament and been miserable failures?? Many, many times. So who knows. The tournament is nothing like the regular season and anyone can win. No this KU team is not too good right now.....But they are probably as good if not better than some unlikely teams like UConn that won it all a few years ago......and Butler that got to 2 national championship games in a row. And so many more examples. You just never know.

It's disappointing.....But can't be too upset about it. They have had to completely change around their game plan with mostly freshmen. But I will say it's a bit alarming how bad they are on the road......particularly getting blown out (final score was not indicative of the game) by a very average team last night.

The team was a little deflated from Monday nights' game results...it was Senior Night in Norman....and OU was desperate to get a signature win to improve their Dance resume...and Kruger hates KU for obvious reasons...so they were really ready and we just could not match that kind of energy...its human nature really....our players are just learning what it really takes to win in this league.......IMO ..the team has lost some chemistry since Garrett s return to the lineup....why?...I do not know.....McCormack....18 pts in 21 minutes....thats a great sign for the future...Coach knows best...he will figure it out...we were ice cold last night.....oh well...we have some fun games ahead.....looking forward to the tournaments...ITS MARCH PEOPLE....GET FIRED UP!!!!.

The feelings being expressed right now by many fans are why others call us spoiled. Winning a conference championship is Hard, ask the other 9 teams in the Big 12. Maybe this is when the achievement of 14 Straight starts to sink in and is actually appreciated. Its a mark that will stand forever unless there are major changes in the rules about leaving early.

Meanwhile, this season is one of Coach's best jobs of developing guys fast, just not fast enough given that Doke's injury put the team into rebuild mode and behind the pace of gelling vs other rosters that have been set from the beginning, then when the NCAA made the Silvio decision and then Vick left, it was starting all over again. Honestly, if we didnt have Doke and Vick in the beginning of the season, we would have had several more losses early, so given the turnover in our roster, it probably worked out the best for the long term, defined as this year's postseason and next year with everyone returning.

I feel sorry for the guys being remembered as the ones who lost the streak but the story line will probably be remembered as the season Doke broke his wrist, Lagerald left and the NCAA went crazy on Silvio. At least it will be unless they give up and get eliminated early in the Big12 tourney and NCAA tourney. At least our record streak of NCAA appearances is safe this year (gee, there's that spoiled tone again)

Seriously.....
OK, I'll give you Dotson. But Agbaji was a redshirt. You would think Bill would have recognized his best guard and played him first. After all, Grimes has played below expectations at best. Vick so far has failed a second time to get everything together. and Garret has done just ok. Moore certainly hasn't shown much....and just to troll Jay Scott, "hell even Teahan appears to play better." Not to mention KJ isn't hardly given any consideration.

I agree with everything you wrote. But I also know that nobody and no team can escape the law of averages (except maybe the Patriots)......They are way past due for a mediocre season, mediocre players, and mediocre coaching. ......Just can't sustain that high a level forever. At some point everything comes back under the bell curve. That's life. They will be much better next year.

Excellent assessment Ken. Bill Self is an awesome coach!! None better in my opinion. But Bill Self like anyone else can have an off year coaching, a bad year recruiting, not to mention just burnt out from the get up travel, recruit, speak to the media, let's play meet the parents, negotiate for shoes and shirts, omg, the grind must be tremendous from year to year to year same thing over and over not to mention dealing with all the drama and prima donna's. This past year has been really hard on a lot of levels for KU and the stars were going to come out of alignment at some point.

Dok getting hurt, Silvio not playing, Vick having issues, are things that are out of Bill's control but the play of our guards, how poor Grimes is playing, the team not defending well against the three, adjusting to make improvement with rebounds, and turnovers, are things that we should be able to show some improvement through out the season and IMO we have not and that falls back on coaching. So for me, no, this is not one of Bill Self's best years coaching.

My response to the MU kid down the hall at work: "I congratulate KSU and TTU for being the first teams other than KU to win the conference in the last 15 years. I remember that '04 team that didn't win the conference. It was right after our 2 consecutive final four appearances. Were you born yet?"

The road losses themselves aren't the issue...they had an all freshman back court...they were bound to struggle..what concerns me the most is that aside from @WVU,ALL their road losses were blowouts..the last 3-5 minutes didn't matter since the the outcome was decided..its like they showed no fight no focus no resiliency and no toughness....they should be a lot better next season but this season fell off a cliff when Azibuike got injured...May be they piece together a good NCAA run

The comments about freshman are tired comments. UK starts freshmen as does Duke. Ours are just not very good as theirs. Our team has regressed. We defeated Mich St, Tennessee, Villanova WTF? Grimes never improved, a lot of the other players hit a brick wall. Players in the past gave 110%, This team, not so much.

They may be "tired" but they are also true. Yes.....they are freshmen and young.......some teams come together faster and some don't . I expect this team to be much better next year. If they aren't then you can complain this time next season. In the meantime maybe you should become a Harlem Globetrotter's fan......They would be perfect for you. They never lose and rarely miss a shot......and they are kind of funny too.

I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. The most commonly used phrase in college basketball is, "The best thing about Freshman is they become Sophomores". Think about the teams that schooled us this year. A good majority of them are senior laden and will be losing all their talent. They will be in the same boat we were in this year, so there is hope. I must say, that this was the hardest team to watch since 1998. We were dealt a crappy deck of cards this year, with Doke's injury and De Sousa's ineligibility, it put us in an uncomfortable place. I hate to think that K-State or Texas Tech will take away our title (hope it's Tech, I despise K-State) but that's life. Unfortunately, I don't see us making a huge impact in the NCAA tourney, I hope i'm wrong, but don't think so.